Robert Bly

’s "War Is The Health Of The State" (1991) Essay, Research Paper President Bush’s decision to attack Iraq is the greatest mistake ever made by an American president. Because the soul of the nation is still torn

’s "War Is The Health Of The State" (1991) Essay, Research Paper

President Bush’s decision to attack Iraq is the greatest

mistake ever made by an American president. Because the soul of the nation is still torn

by the Vietnam War, the banking community is in desperate shape, research funds

disappearing, schools being abandoned, the nation cannot afford this manic adventure, this

inappropriate Good Friday of fireworks, this resolute walking off the cliff that

"beetles o’er its brow into the sea."

The Mexican War, in 1846, was an ugly event, and we recall Abraham Lincoln saying of

the then president, Polk: "His mind, tasked beyond its power, is running hither and

thither, like some tortured creature on a burning surface, finding no position on which it

can settle down and be at ease." The decisions to break the Indian treaties, to

attack North Korea, to go off the gold standard, to fund "Star Wars" were all

bad decisions, but none of them imperiled the republic as the attack on Iraq does. The

Iraq operation is larger than the arms runs to the Contras, but it depends similarly on

secretive governmental decisions for war, supported relatively by Congress when it is too

late to change. The government decision gives no hint of shadow motives. Deception goes to

the heart of the decision and deception is dangerous to the republic.

The president, speaking the other day to religious leaders, said, "We seek nothing

for ourselves." Can one imagine Napoleon sending 500,000 troops across the plains to

Russia and declaring, "We seek nothing for ourselves"? He got nothing, but he

sought much. So do all sovereign states that enter war.

A revolting high-mindedness surrounds the decision. We say that Saddam is a demon, and

we are angels. Saddam is a disgusting murderer–resembling in that respect Pinochet,

Marcos, Franco, Trujillo, and many old solemn friends of the United States.

We see Iraq’s shadow, but not our own shadow. President Bush could mention that he used

to be head of the local KGB–I mean the CIA–which kills secretly, close up and at a

distance. I know that one may expect self-righteousness, pious rhetoric, hypocrisy, verbal